Life in Quotations
by A-ya Halloway
Summary: Eveeryong is always getting told quotes- by family or friends. Some are funny, some are annoying, and some are irritating. But at times the can truly describe what it is that you are going through.


Hello readers. I'm one of Fanfiction's lurker-turned-writer's. This usn't the first story I've written, or the first story I've posted up on here, but I did put alot of effort into it and I hope you-all enjoy it ^^ The theme of this is, I am always getting told quotes- by family or friends. Some are funny, some are annoying, and some are irritating. But at times the can truly describe what it is that you are going through.

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><p><em><span>1: The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. - <span>__Marcel Proust_

Link sadly stared down at Lake Hylia as he sat underneath the dead tree beside the warp platform. Ruto had just given him her thanks for destroying Morpha and freeing her temple, and even said she wished to marry him- yet again. And while Link was happy to have helped, all that was on his mind was '_why?'_. Why did he have to give up the friends he had made as a child? Why did it have to be him that was the hero? Why did he have to kill his own shadow..? It wasn't right! It wasn't fair! Everyone loved him, but no one seemed to care about Link. The man behind the legend... A sudden movement of sheer black grabbed his attention... It was his shadow! ...And it was running away! He stared blankly at the disappearing form for a moment, then raced after it shouting for the creature to come back. He finally gave up chasing the thing after a good hour of running around in circles, since the what-ever-it-was seemed to only be playing with him. Link collapsed on the warp platform, breathing raggedly and hoping to never see that dammed shadow again. Then he felt something cold press up against his side, blue eyes flickered down to see his shadow slightly out of the ground curled up against him. For a moment he stared, and the shadow lifted its head, showing off two very bright mischievous red eyes...

2: In the darkness there is no light, and in light there is no darkness; so if there neither, how do you know either? - _Unknown_

Link's heart pounded so fiercely in his chest, he was almost afraid it would burst right out. He was scared, a silly thing for the holder of the Triforce of _Courage_, but scared he was none the less. The hero stuck in some room of the Shadow temple where he could hear the whispers of the Sheikah dead. It was so dark here. No light... no living beings other than him... no way out... it was all nothing... Panic built up to a bursting point, and Link felt a cold hand on his shoulder. The dead were after him! Link _screamed _and raced forward- only to run straight into a wall! He fell to the floor and curled up there, whimpering and wishing for the light of the sun, the moon, the stars, anything but this awful never-ending black! And that cold hand was back! He whimpered again, and then felt something moving against him. No, vibrating, almost like humming without sound. A familiar song; The sun's song! Instantly he knew it was the shadow, the one from the Lake that had been following him for awhile now. It was reassuring him that it was there, it wasn't going to leave him alone in this place. Surprisingly, it did soothe him, give him the strength to get back to his feet once more. Then he felt the shadow's nearly solid hand slip into his own, gently tugging and leading him to a room that had enough light to see in it. Link looked down at shadow, barely making it out, but, somehow, he was sure it smiled at him. And he could most definitely see the friendly wave in the right direction...

3: You cannot be mad at somebody that makes you laugh – it's as simple as that. - _Jay Leno_

Link was trying, he really was! Shadow was standing behind Indgo and wagging a finger at him, miming the rancher's rant about the proper way to take care of a horse's saddle. Link had finished the Shadow temple and, with many thanks, pleas to stay, good luck wishes, and offers of marriage, left behind Kakariko village and traveled to Lon Lon Ranch to get Epona's saddle fixed yet again. The third time this month, as the Poes seemed to loved spooking his horse into races to where Link had a hard time killing them. Shadow, it seemed, was less inclined to listen than Link, and was now attempting to make the hero laugh at an inappropriate moment. The little Imp almost managed it too, it had thread together a shadowy rope and proceeded to hand itself from the faked rope, its tongue sticking out and everything. The hero had to hide his laughter behind a cough when Malon came running around the corner and dragged the two men inside. She didn't need to explain as they could clearly see the _many_ angry Cucoos flying after her. When they were slumped against the wall safely inside, Link turned to glare at his shadow, who had created a shadow halo above its head and wings on his back. The blonde made a face at it and turned away, but saw out of the corner of his eye the halo and wing change to horns and a pointed wagging tail. Somehow though, Link just couldn't find it in himself to be mad at Shadow as a small smile tugged at his lips...

4: Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance. - _Samuel Johnson_

It took a good twenty- maybe thirty times- before Link finally did it. But he did it dammit! The Gerudo fortress was a maze of stone and filled with the scantily dressed women. And as nice as the women thing might sound, it would have been _so_ much better if they hadn't locked him up in that itty-bitty room where he could barely see his only companion. But with Shadow's help, a lot of arrows, a good memory, and a shit load of luck, Link had freed the carpenters and won the trust of the Gerudo's in-standing leader. Right now the hero and his shadow were in a circular stone monument as they took shelter from the sandstorm outside. The moment it subsided enough for them to leave, Link went to the top to look for some guide that the Gerudo had mentioned. Link didn't see anyone, but Shadow suddenly began frantically pointing and waving towards _something_, then it raced off after whatever it had seen. Knowing the shadow wouldn't have left unless it was important, Link quickly raced off after Shadow. It took a good ten tries before Link stumbled his way into the clear space just outside of the Spirit temple. He saw Shadow waving at him by some dried up pool, so he went to sit beside it and rest. No one ever said you got something by not trying. At least that's what Link muttered grumpily to the shadow, ignoring the seemingly chuckling vibrations as Shadow laid its head on his knee...

5: Dignity and love do not blend well, nor do they continue long together - _Ovid_

Link couldn't decided which was worse. The heat of lava from Koume, the chill of ice from Kotake, or their bickering as they finally died. The blue light to the Sage's Chamber glowed over on the pillar where those two had died, promising the coolness of the chamber. And a small break from his shadow, who he had argued with earlier over the small matter of the Like-Like. He wasn't exactly sure what it was that made them fight, or what the argument had been about in the first place. Something about a mimed joke of how and why the nasty jelly blobs took his tunics, and since Link had been fighting for a long while, hadn't had much food or sleep, and was in a generally bad mood, the joke did not go down well with him. So they had fought, and Link had chased off his only companion on this awful bloody journey. Once Nabooru had dropped him off in front of the temple, the Hero brought out his Ocarina to head to the temple of time, but a slight vibration at his feet stooped him. There was Shadow, using his own special way of apologizing. Link bit his lip, and shook his head. No, this time had been his fault. When it came to things like pride and such, it was Link's fault for not remembering Shadow didn't understand those things. He apologized, and together they went to the Light temple...

6: Grief is the agony of an instant, the indulgence of grief is the blunder of a lifetime. - _Benjamin Disraeli_

No, not even Shadow could soothe the hurt this time. This betrayal ran _much_ to deep for that. Sheik had turned out to be Zelda in disguise. And, while Shadow was a good companion, it wasn't _human_, not like Sheik had been. The Sheikah had given him one of his usual speeches, long winded but interesting. Then he... Sheik had lifted up his hand to reveal the Triforce of Wisdom, surprising Link to no end, but shocking him to the core when the bright light enveloped his friend and changing the Sheikah into Princess Zelda! Not only that, for then Ganondorf encased her within a maroon crystal shaped cage of magic and whisked her away to the foul castle just up the hill. And it was only now that he realized just how much he had cared about Sheik, more than he should have he knew. Link also knew that he shouldn't be grieving, He hadn't lost a new friend after all, just had an old friend be revealed... But it still hurt so much to be lied too. He wanted nothing more than to sit on the steps of the temple cry his eyes and heart out, but with Shadow there to keep tugging his onward and his own inability to dwell on the negative, Link drew his powerful sword and raced through the streets of the ruined town. Ready to take his anger-turned-grief out on the man that had forced all of this on his shoulders...

7: There are always survivors at a massacre- among the victors if nowhere else. - _Lois McMaster Bujold_

Link had never fought a human before. Even when he had gone against the Gerudo women, all he had done was knock them out. Even against TwinRova, for all that had poured out of them was multi colored streams of their magic. No killing or blood. Nothing like fighting the man that caused it all. It was a long bloody battle. Red from his human form, and green from that awful pig-beast form. He was electrocuted, knocked down two stories, smacked around by huge blades, nearly killed by crumbling pillars... And then of course Ganon's pig form nearly killed him with it's looks and stench. The so-called hero knew that without Shadow, his secret partner in battle, he would have never defeated the Slime King. Shadow was there every step of the way, tripping the beast as best it could, covering his eyes with its shadowy hands, doing its best to yank his horns so that Ganon would be distracted. (Amazingly, only he seemed to notice, even Impa's sharp eyes could not see, pick out the shadow's little helpful actions- at least he hope so) When it was all finally over, the bloody broken creature that used to be a man was banished to the Sacred realm and Zelda offered to send him back to a time where Ganondorf did not take Hyrule. Link refused, saying he couldn't go back to being a child after spending so much time trying to be an adult. And it was true; Partly. The other part was that he didn't want to go back into a world without Shadow. Another thing was that he knew he would forget all this if he went back, and he wanted- more than anything- to remember the fight. Never did he want to forget the instinct of survival, the stench of blood, or the thrills of hate, anger and so many emotions coursing through his veins... Because to forget the worst side of him, it would be worse than death itself; though it would never soothe the ache in his chest for taking a life...

8: All humans are liars- Not because they choose to be, but because of the lies everyone tell themselves about each other- and themselves. - _Unknown_

It was all Link could do to not scream in frustration. Shadow was over by the warp platform; doubled over in silent laughter because he thought the Hylians were the most idiotic people in this or any world. A young boy had run up to him proudly proclaiming that he didn't believe the book his parents had been reading to him. The blonde remained utterly confused until the boy's Mother had come over and explained that the afore mentioned book said that '_you should never trust the one that that has no secrets- because they have the worst of them all._' She had then said she sided with her son on the opinion that the statement was wrong. Link after all was their Hero. He had no awful secrets from the populace. So saying she had waved and started off with the boy, who also waved cheerfully as they walked away. Link instantly left castle town in favor of the secluded Lake Hylia so he could pound his fists again the old rotted wood of the that same stupid tree that had been there for so long. Shadow eventually came to Link to comfort the so-called 'Hero' as it realized Link was crying. Why was he crying? He was crying because he was getting so tried of the people making him into some perfect being that he wasn't. And he felt so sure that he was close to a breaking point...

9: I'm not upset that you lied to me; I'm upset that now I can't trust you. – _Friedrich Nietzche_

The irony of the situation was, it had only been two hours since that incident with the young boy and his mother. Shadow had gone off alone, which he sometimes did, so Link hadn't been worried. However, when the blonde had returned to the castle after his daily rounds to find Shadow captured and about to be killed by Zelda's light magic. He knew the moment he grabbed hold of the Princesses wrist and demanded they let it go that their secret was out... And he was in serious trouble. Especially after Shadow cowered in his arms when Zelda's surprise allowed it to slip free. When she and the Sages demanded to know why Link had saved the supposedly evil creature, he told them about Shadow's help and how it was a close friend after all this time. They didn't believe him; And Link couldn't even blame them. Everyone was horrified at the thought that their 'pure' hero was consorting with the darkness, but it did not matter to Link- he was just grateful it was over. The lying and nobody even coming close to guessing who he was beneath the hero. Really, there was only one thing that he knew he would never forget about leaving. Shadow had stood in front of Zelda and made a shadowy dagger that he plunged into his heart from the back, pulled it out from the front, then turned dagger around and once again stabbed himself in the back. Link understood what it was saying- Zelda seemed to as well as she flushed with anger. All Link could do now was turn his back to the people that stole his childhood and forced him into a destiny that no man would want once they realized the burden and heart ache it would bring. All he could do was walk away. Even as Zelda called for him, demanding him to come back and repent, that he would never be trusted again if he did not destroy the shadow. Link didn't bother, he simply paused, said one thing, and left Hyrule behind forever

"Good-bye Sheik"

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><p>And there you have it! If you have something to say, please leave a review and let me know!<p> 


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